Mike Myers Net Worth

What Is Mike Myers' Net Worth and Salary?

Mike Myers is a Canadian-born actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director who has a net worth of $200 million.

Mike Myers became one of the most successful comedy stars of the 1990s and 2000s by doing something few performers have ever managed: creating multiple characters that became major pieces of pop culture. After breaking through on "Saturday Night Live" with Wayne Campbell, Dieter, and Linda Richman, Myers turned Wayne into the $183 million box-office hit "Wayne's World." He then created, co-wrote, produced, and starred in the "Austin Powers" movies, playing Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, and Goldmember across a trilogy that earned more than $678 million worldwide.

At the same time, Mike became the voice of Shrek, starring alongside Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz in one of the most successful animated franchises in movie history. The first four "Shrek" movies earned nearly $3 billion worldwide in their original theatrical releases.

That success made Myers one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars. He earned $1 million for the first "Wayne's World," received a deal worth $6 million for its sequel, and was guaranteed $7 million against a lucrative percentage of the gross for "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me." By "Austin Powers in Goldmember," his compensation had climbed to $25 million plus a substantial share of revenue. He also earned $10 million for "Shrek 2," eight figures for the later "Shrek" sequels, and $20 million for "The Cat in the Hat."

Although Myers became much more selective after the 2000s, he continued acting, writing, directing, and periodically returning to the characters that made him famous. His later work has included "Inglourious Basterds," "Bohemian Rhapsody," the documentary "Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon," Netflix's "The Pentaverate," and the 2026 Michael Jackson biopic "Michael." Myers has an Emmy Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Early Life

Michael John Myers was born on May 25, 1963, in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. His parents, Eric and Alice "Bunny" Myers, were English immigrants from Liverpool. Mike grew up with two older brothers, Peter and Paul, in a household heavily influenced by British comedy, music, and television.

His father worked as an encyclopedia salesman and had served in the British Army during World War II, while his mother had served in the Royal Air Force before working in an office. Eric introduced his sons to performers including Peter Sellers and comedy groups such as Monty Python, influences that would later become obvious in Mike's own work.

Myers started performing almost absurdly early. He appeared in commercials as a small child and, at age ten, acted in a television commercial alongside future "Saturday Night Live" legend Gilda Radner. He attended Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute before graduating from Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in 1982.

Second City and Early Comedy Career

On his final day of high school, Myers auditioned for the Toronto touring company of The Second City and was hired. He spent the next several years developing the highly character-driven style of comedy that would define his career.

Mike later moved to England, where he performed with the Comedy Store Players and worked with Neil Mullarkey on the children's television program "Wide Awake Club." After returning to Canada, he joined Second City's Toronto mainstage cast in 1986. He then moved to Chicago in 1988 to perform, teach, and continue studying improvisational comedy.

Several of the characters that audiences would eventually associate with "Saturday Night Live" actually began before Myers arrived at NBC. Wayne Campbell evolved out of characters and sketches Myers had performed on Canadian television, while his German art-scene personality Dieter had roots in Second City material. According to Second City lore, Martin Short encouraged Lorne Michaels to take a look at Myers after working with him in Toronto.

"Saturday Night Live"

Myers joined "Saturday Night Live" in 1989 and quickly became one of the defining performers of the show's early-1990s era. His characters included heavy-metal public-access host Wayne Campbell, ultra-serious German talk-show host Dieter, Scottish shopkeeper Stuart Rankin, Simon the bathtub-dwelling child who liked to show off his "drawrings," and "Coffee Talk" host Linda Richman.

Linda was based on Myers' real-life mother-in-law, who was actually named Linda Richman. The character became famous for expressions including "verklempt" and "like buttah," while Wayne's enthusiastic "Party on!" and "We're not worthy!" became equally durable pieces of 1990s pop culture.

Myers was also part of the "SNL" writing staff that won the 1989 Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program. He remained with the show for six seasons, working alongside performers including Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, David Spade, and Adam Sandler.

The biggest character of Myers' "SNL" career was Wayne Campbell. Mike had been experimenting with versions of Wayne years before joining the show, including appearances on Canadian television, but pairing Wayne with Carvey's Garth Algar transformed the idea into one of "SNL's" signature sketches.

"Wayne's World" and Early Movie Career

In 1992, Myers and Carvey brought Wayne and Garth to theaters in "Wayne's World," which Myers co-wrote. Produced on a $20 million budget, the movie became a blockbuster, earning $121.7 million in the United States and $183.1 million worldwide. It was far more successful than most movies adapted from "Saturday Night Live" sketches and turned Myers into a movie star.

Mike was paid $1 million for "Wayne's World." For 1993's "Wayne's World 2," his compensation increased to $3.5 million upfront plus another $2.5 million through profit participation, bringing his earnings from the sequel to $6 million.

Also in 1993, Myers starred in "So I Married an Axe Murderer," playing both San Francisco poet Charlie Mackenzie and Charlie's aggressively Scottish father, Stuart. Mike earned $2 million for the film. It was a disappointment at the box office but developed a cult following in the years that followed.

After leaving "Saturday Night Live" in 1995, Myers largely disappeared from public view for a period. Rather than immediately capitalizing on his fame with a string of studio comedies, he spent several years developing the character that would define the next phase of his career.

"Austin Powers"

Myers returned to theaters in 1997 with "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery." Inspired by James Bond movies, 1960s British pop culture, spy spoofs, and the entertainment Myers had grown up watching with his father, the movie starred Mike as both swinging secret agent Austin Powers and his bald, pinky-wielding nemesis Dr. Evil.

Myers did considerably more than act in the film. He created the characters, wrote the screenplay, and served as a producer. "Austin Powers" cost just $16.5 million to make and earned $67.7 million worldwide, but its theatrical performance was only the beginning. The movie became a major home-video hit and built enough momentum to make its sequel one of the biggest comedy events of 1999.

"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" added another Myers character, the enormous Scottish henchman Fat Bastard. The sequel exploded to $313.7 million worldwide. Mike followed it with 2002's "Austin Powers in Goldmember," adding the title villain to his collection of roles and co-starring with Beyoncé. "Goldmember" earned another $296.9 million worldwide.

Combined, the three "Austin Powers" films generated $678.4 million at the global box office. They also produced an enormous collection of characters, catchphrases, costumes, and visual gags that remained embedded in popular culture long after the trilogy ended.

The franchise transformed Myers' finances as dramatically as it transformed his career. He earned $3 million upfront for the first film. For "The Spy Who Shagged Me," Myers was guaranteed $7 million against 10% of first-dollar gross, with his participation increasing after the film reached profitability. Contemporary Hollywood reporting projected that the arrangement would ultimately pay him more than $20 million.

By "Goldmember," Myers had become one of the best-paid performers in Hollywood. His deal was reported at $25 million plus a 21% revenue participation.

"Shrek"

While the "Austin Powers" movies established Myers as a live-action comedy superstar, "Shrek" gave him an entirely different type of franchise. Chris Farley had originally been cast as Shrek and had recorded material for the project before his death in 1997. Myers was subsequently hired to take over the role.

Mike initially recorded Shrek using a different voice. After seeing an early version of the movie, he decided the character should have a Scottish accent and asked to record his entire performance again. DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg agreed with the change even though it required millions of dollars of finished animation to be reworked.

The decision became an important part of the character's identity. Released in 2001, "Shrek" earned $484.9 million worldwide in its original theatrical run and won the first Academy Award ever presented for Best Animated Feature. "Shrek 2" followed in 2004 and became an even larger phenomenon, earning $929.1 million worldwide during its original release.

"Shrek the Third" earned $808.3 million worldwide in 2007, while "Shrek Forever After" added another $752.6 million in 2010. Altogether, Myers' first four "Shrek" movies generated $2.97 billion worldwide in their original theatrical runs. He also voiced the character in projects including the television special "Shrek the Halls," theme-park attractions, video games, and other franchise material.

Myers' "Shrek" compensation increased sharply as the series became more valuable. His deferred-pay and gross-participation arrangement on the original ultimately earned him more than $3 million. He received $10 million for "Shrek 2," and his compensation for each of the third and fourth movies was reported in the $15 million range.

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Dieter Lawsuit and "The Cat in the Hat"

One of the strangest episodes of Myers' career occurred at the height of his Hollywood power. Myers had been developing a feature film based on his "SNL" character Dieter for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. The project, commonly referred to as "Sprockets," was scheduled to pay Myers more than $20 million to star, write, and produce.

Shortly before filming was scheduled to begin in 2000, Myers concluded that the screenplay was not good enough and refused to proceed with the existing version. Universal sued, seeking to recover millions of dollars already spent on pre-production, while Imagine Entertainment filed a separate lawsuit seeking more than $30 million. Myers countersued Universal for more than $20 million and argued that his agreement gave him script approval.

The dispute became unusually public and ugly by Hollywood standards, but the parties eventually settled out of court. Myers later reconciled with producer Brian Grazer and fulfilled his obligations to Universal and Imagine by starring in 2003's "The Cat in the Hat."

Mike was paid $20 million for the movie. Although it was commercially successful enough to earn more than $130 million worldwide, it was savaged by critics and became one of the least acclaimed projects of Myers' career.

"The Love Guru" and Later Career

Myers returned to an original live-action starring vehicle with 2008's "The Love Guru," which he co-wrote and produced. He played Guru Pitka, a self-help personality hired to repair the personal life of a professional hockey player. The film was a major critical and commercial disappointment and effectively ended the period in which Myers routinely mounted expensive studio comedies around newly created characters.

He did not disappear completely. Myers played British General Ed Fenech in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" in 2009 and returned as Shrek for "Shrek Forever After" the following year.

In 2013, Myers made his feature directing debut with "Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon," a documentary about legendary talent manager Shep Gordon. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and later received an Emmy nomination.

Myers found another wonderfully strange way to disappear into a character when he hosted the revival of "The Gong Show" in 2017 and 2018. Rather than appearing as himself, he spent the entire series under extensive prosthetics as fictional British television personality Tommy Maitland, complete with a fabricated biography and accent.

In 2018, Mike appeared in the thriller "Terminal" and played record executive Ray Foster in the Freddie Mercury biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody." The latter role included an inside joke in which Myers' character argued that teenagers would never crank Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in their cars, a direct reference to the famous head-banging scene in "Wayne's World."

"The Pentaverate" and Recent Work

In 2022, Myers returned to the kind of multi-character comedy that had made him famous with the Netflix series "The Pentaverate." He created the six-episode series and played eight different characters, including Canadian journalist Ken Scarborough and several members of the show's ancient secret society.

The premise itself reached all the way back to Myers' 1993 film "So I Married an Axe Murderer," in which his Scottish father character delivers a conspiracy-theory rant about a secret organization called the Pentaverate. Myers also appeared alongside Christian Bale and Margot Robbie in the 2022 film "Amsterdam."

Mike returned to his "Saturday Night Live" roots during the show's 50th-anniversary celebrations in 2025, once again playing Linda Richman. He subsequently appeared on regular episodes of the show in an Elon Musk parody.

In 2026, Myers played CBS Records executive Walter Yetnikoff in "Michael," the Michael Jackson biopic starring Jaafar Jackson. Decades after his original "SNL" run, Myers continued to alternate between character comedy, supporting film work, and selective appearances connected to the franchises and institutions that defined his career.

Notable Salaries and Career Earnings

Myers' rise from sketch comedian to franchise creator produced some enormous Hollywood paydays:

• Mike earned $1 million for 1992's "Wayne's World."
• For "Wayne's World 2," he received $3.5 million upfront plus $2.5 million in profit participation, for total compensation of $6 million.
• He earned $2 million for "So I Married an Axe Murderer."
• Myers earned $3 million upfront for "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery."
• For "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," he was guaranteed $7 million against 10% of first-dollar gross, with his participation increasing after the film reached break-even. Contemporary reporting projected that the deal would ultimately pay him more than $20 million.
• His "Austin Powers in Goldmember" compensation was reported at $25 million plus a 21% revenue participation.
• His compensation for the original "Shrek" ultimately exceeded $3 million through a deferred-pay and gross-participation arrangement.
• He earned $10 million for "Shrek 2."
• His compensation for "Shrek the Third" and "Shrek Forever After" was reported in the $15 million range for each film.
• Mike earned $20 million for "The Cat in the Hat."

Those publicly disclosed and reported figures alone exceed $100 million before counting the full value of his backend participation, television work, residuals, and other compensation. The particularly lucrative part of Myers' career was not merely being hired to act in successful comedies. On projects such as the "Austin Powers" films, he was also the creator, writer, producer, and central performer, giving him significantly more leverage than a conventional acting salary would provide.

Other Work and Honors

Myers has frequently incorporated his personal interests into his work. He performed with the fictional 1960s-style band Ming Tea alongside musicians including Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet, and the group contributed music to the "Austin Powers" films.

A lifelong admirer of Monty Python, Myers appeared in the documentary "Monty Python: The Meaning of Live" and joined the comedy troupe onstage during the final performance of "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" in London.

In 2016, he published "Canada," a combination memoir, cultural history, and personal celebration of his home country. Myers has often emphasized his Canadian identity throughout his career, slipping Canadian references into his comedy and maintaining strong ties to the country even after building his career in the United States.

Mike received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. In 2017, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions as an actor, writer, producer, and comedian, and he was formally invested in the order in 2018.

Personal Life

Myers met actress and comedy writer Robin Ruzan at a hockey game in Chicago. They married in 1993 after several years together. The couple filed for divorce in late 2005 after 12 years of marriage.

Mike began a relationship with Kelly Tisdale in 2006. Tisdale had previously co-founded the New York City café Teany with musician Moby. Myers and Tisdale married in a private ceremony in 2010 and have three children together.

Despite creating some of the loudest and most recognizable comedy characters of his generation, Myers has generally maintained a quiet private life. He is an avid hockey fan, particularly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and has remained closely connected to both Canadian and British culture throughout his life.

Real Estate

Mike has owned several valuable properties in New York City. In 2007, he paid just under $8 million for a 4,204-square-foot penthouse in SoHo. He later listed the home for nearly $17 million before ultimately selling it for $13.2 million in 2018, producing a substantial gain over his original purchase price.

In late 2016, Myers paid $14.675 million for a 4,241-square-foot, four-bedroom condo at 443 Greenwich Street in Tribeca. He almost immediately decided to sell. The property changed hands in March 2017 for $14 million, giving Myers a $675,000 loss before transaction costs.

In 2017, Myers paid $15.35 million for a full-floor penthouse overlooking New York City's High Line. The more than 5,600-square-foot residence featured four bedrooms, a library, media room, sauna, and two terraces. Mike listed it for $20 million in 2023, later reduced the asking price to $17.5 million, and sold the property in 2024 for $16.75 million.

Myers also purchased a lakefront estate in Colchester, Vermont, for $1.65 million in 2014. The property sits on several wooded acres along Lake Champlain and contains a residence spanning more than 4,000 square feet.

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